


Play Day

by Bam4Me



Series: Tiny Academy [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: 23 yo Hargreeves, Alternate Universe - BDSM, Caregiver!Eudora, Caregiver!Grace, Drugs, Eventual Diego/Eudora, Gen, Klaus Loves Shoes, Littles Are Known, Luther/Allison/Patrick (side pairing), Non-Sexual Age Play, Sort of but mainly mostly littles, Their powers are mostly from comics tho, This is set like seven years before canon, Vanya/Helen (side pairing), cause his dad never let him wear them when they were kids, little!Five but hes not in this first fic obv, little!Klaus, middle!Diego
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 14:14:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17982647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bam4Me/pseuds/Bam4Me
Summary: Diego and Klaus go to the park, and there is a slight misunderstanding.





	Play Day

**Author's Note:**

> Few things about this AU: Vanya has ALWAYS known about her powers. Their dad never kept it from her. So that's not an issue. The apocalypse still happens but it's like 3000 years in the future and most of the planet was evacuated before it happened. Five still gets stuck there. Also, littles and middles are a thing.
> 
> Klaus is about four  
> Diego is about 10-12, but when he's alone with Klaus, he gets a little bigger, closer to 14-16  
> Five is at most, two
> 
> dumbassacademy.tumblr.com

When Klaus showed up at Diego’s apartment, he was already loaded to the gills with whatever drugs he would get out of whoever was his dealer this week, bouncing in place while he waited for one his favorite -alive and present- brother to get to the door.

 

“Diego! Hi!” He flung himself at the larger man, looking absolutely delighted with the world. Must have been a good batch.

 

“What’s up, Klaus? You don’t normally show up so… dizzy looking, at my place.” It’s true though, he usually invaded Diego’s apartment before shoving the newest pill in his mouth. Sometimes Diego wondered if Klaus thought his brother might be able to keep the ghosts at bay so he didn’t need the pills. 

 

Sometimes Klaus wondered if Diego knew he actually just trusted his brother no matter if he was loaded or not, and if he’s going to lose sense of everything around him except Ben, he’d never trust anyone more. 

 

There was possibly a communication issue there, but that’s not what we’re here to address today. 

 

Today’s emergency, seems to be the fact that Klaus seems to be  _ fully _ in littlespace right now, a fact that caused Diego no little amount of stress. People shouldn’t mix drugs with headspace, and littles like Klaus who did drugs were already vulnerable without mixing the two of them together. 

 

Klaus swayed a little in his arms, making himself comfortable snuggled up against him. He hummed, still so delighted to see and be held by his brother. “Ben said, he said that I… Ben, what was it that you said?”

 

Diego couldn’t see the ghost of course, but there was no denying that he had always been there since his death. But still, he watched Klaus nod, with all the sage wisdom of a four year old on E, turning away from the hallway where Ben must have been. “Yeah, he said that.”

 

Diego sighed a little. “Pretend, for just a moment, that I cannot hear Ben. What did he say?”

 

Klaus buried his head in Diego’s neck now, voice slightly muffled. “Said I should ask you to come to playgroup with me. I was just gonna go by myself, but Ben said you might want to go too.”

 

Playgroups were usually for littles, or middles who have little siblings. As a nearly eleven year old middle, Diego didn’t usually fit into playgroups, he rarely went to them. But when Klaus asked… well, he wasn’t going to let him go alone in this condition, at the very least.

 

“That sounds really fun, Klaus. Ben, thank you for suggesting that, it’ll be fun to spend the afternoon with my baby brother.”

 

Klaus let out a delighted little squeak, bouncing in his arms a little, cuddling up close. “Yay, I love my big brothers! Except for Luther, he always leaves the crust on my sandwiches.”

 

Diego was surprised Klaus trusted Luther’s cooking enough to even let him give him a sandwich, but didn’t mention it, gently pulling Klaus into the apartment and dragging him over to the couch to sit down. He went back to close the door, vaguely wondering if Ben could shift through walls, but deciding that was a question for when Klaus was sober for once.

 

He turned around with a sad little sigh. “Where did your shoes go, buba?”

 

Klaus looked down at his bare feet on the floor, making a sad little noise in the back of his throat. “It’s Wednesday, Dee, not allowed shoes on training days?”

 

Diego wanted to hit someone. Preferably their father. “Buba, today isn’t a training day. You don’t have to be barefoot if you don’t want to.”

 

Klaus looked at him with fuzzy eyes, blinking slowly as he thought about that. His big eyes started to water, and when he answered, Diego considered not letting them go to playgoup at all, with how sad and little he sounded. “Dee, I want shoes, please?”

 

He couldn’t hear the ghosts he didn’t know with shoes on. He could only hear Ben with shoes on. The other ghosts still scared the damn life out of him, but it was unbearable without shoes.

 

He’d spent the majority of his childhood without shoes on. Diego remembers, way too many times, slipping a pair of his own shoes and socks in a bag before they left on missions, knowing fully well that their father never planned for the absolute heart stopping terror that gripped his baby brother when the mission was over, and the ghosts were disturbed and angry.

 

Diego leaned down and pressed a kiss to Klaus’s forehead before standing back up and going to the bedroom in the back. He had a few pairs of Klaus’s shoes and socks with him. All the siblings had pairs for him at their houses, but Diego had the most, since he was the only other little spectrum kid in their family, Klaus tended to cling to him the most. When he wasn’t clinging to Grace.

 

Their mother still wasn’t allowed outside the house. Dr Pogo wasn’t either, since their father wasn’t sure if an incident would occur. But it kind of stung to know why he never let Grace out. She looked human, she could blend in very well, if a bit old fashioned compared to most mothers now days, she was, in fact, made to be a caregiver herself. To take care of the children, but to provide specialized care for Klaus, Diego and Five.

 

Because he didn’t want to have to actually  _ deal _ with having three little spectrum children, so he made them someone who would love and care for them, who would tend to their every needs and desires -as long as they were little in that moment, no need to spoil them after all- and then, when they desired the independence from  _ him _ that they could finally get, he would reel them back in using her.

 

If Reginald never let Grace leave the house, Klaus and Diego would be forced to come back when they needed her care. Diego was already afraid of doctors, refused to see anyone but Grace, but Klaus… this was all but ruining him.

 

He couldn’t seem to stay in one house for long. Luther and Allison were nice, such good older siblings, but they had their husband and daughter to look after and Klaus felt awkward needing them to look after him when he wasn’t big enough to care for himself.

 

Vanya and Helen loved having him over, but he always felt like he clung to them too much when he wasn’t feeling big, and he didn’t want to be a bother to them. He still loved them though. 

 

But Diego… Diego  _ would _ be perfect to stay with. He had a nice apartment that Dad paid for in a little spectrum district, so it was actually the safest place for them both to be. It had a second bedroom that Klaus used -though, admittedly, he preferred cuddling to sleeping alone- and their father still paid all the bills, so Klaus wouldn’t have to worry about any of that… but Diego was a middle.

 

There’s nothing wrong with being a middle. Klaus was closer to Diego than he was with anyone else other than Ben, Klaus loved him with all his heart. But he knew that if he stayed with Diego for too long, it would force him into less of a Big Brother role, and more of a parental one. He would never do that to his big bro, he loves him  _ so much _ , and even though Diego wasn’t all that big to begin with, he deserves to be able to be small when he wants to. 

 

Of course, Diego would love to just keep Klaus with him at all times. Maybe he could finally help Klaus get sober… Dad would never suggest that Klaus get his own apartment. Klaus was way too little on the spectrum and fell into his headspace without warning far too often. Dad’s  _ professional opinion _ was always that Klaus should just move back home where he could continue his training and be cared for by Grace all he wanted. They all knew how badly that would turn out. 

 

Vanya was too hard to control, and with Ben and Five gone, Klaus was the second strongest of all of them. Dad always complained that he never stood up to his potential.

 

Honestly, Diego thinks Klaus is doing fairly well for himself, considering that he’s so scared of the ghosts he can’t keep sober. It’s not a failing on Klaus’s part, but when you see the horrors he’s looking at on a daily basis, Diego can understand why he does it. 

 

He wished his baby brother had a caregiver other than their mom. Not that he doesn’t love her with all his heart, he loves her so much it aches, but it would help to keep Klaus away from their father. 

 

He stood with a pair of bright neon pink and green socks, and a pair of well kept sneakers. They had laces in them. 

 

Luther and Allison didn’t keep shoes with laces for him, because he didn’t know how to tie them himself, but Diego and Vanya knew how excited it made Klaus to get shoes with laces in them. He got  _ very _ excited. Whenever Luther and Allison watched him, Klaus always took his shoes off when he went little because they didn’t have laces, and then he would get a panic attack cause of the ghosts being so loud, and cry about it.

 

And yet, Luther and Allison were still insistent that laces aren’t needed because Klaus found them too hard. They… Diego loves his siblings but Allison and Luther don’t seem to understand what being little spectrum really entails.

 

He shoved the shoes in the crook of his arm with a little huff of air and grabbed the floating cracker tin as it wobbily started floating out of the kitchen and towards the couch.

 

“No telekinesis, buba, not at playgroup. It startles the other littles.”

 

Klaus pouted, still teaching out for the cracker tin with a needy look on his face. “Want cookies, Diego.”

 

Diego dropped them back off in the kitchen and came back to the couch, sitting next to Klaus so he could bodily pull those skinny little feet into his lap. “Those weren’t even cookies, they were crackers.” Klaus had  _ terrible _ control of his telekinesis when he was high.

 

Klaus pouted harder, but as soon as he saw the shoes, he brightened up, wriggling his little pale toes. “Shoes! For going on my feet!”

 

Diego gave a very sad smile, rubbing one thumb into the soft underside of Klaus’s right foot, making him give a soft little sigh at the nice touch. Back when they were kids, Klaus still wasn’t allowed to wear shoes in the house -their father always argued that there was nowhere he was allowed to walk that was dangerous or cold- and sometimes he’d get so upset about it, he would take some socks and wear a pair of old shoes on his hands. He’d stopped doing it after Five left. He just started getting angrier about not being allowed his own shoes after Ben died.

 

This is just another reason he can’t live at home, and can’t see Grace on Wednesday’s. Dad will make him keep his shoes off.

 

And that will just make the ghosts louder.

 

He gently worked the soft wool sock up Klaus’s foot. They went past his ankles and just under his pants ends. Vanya’s girlfriend Helen knit socks when she was bored. They all had a pair or two of them, she was such a nice lady. But Klaus had at least ten of them by now. After his initial tears and clinging to her when she’d given him a pair, she had started just making him pairs, and still hasn’t stopped.

 

Klaus gave the happiest little moan at the feeling of it, squirming in place as Diego captured the other foot and did the same there. Diego worked the pair of sneakers onto both feet after, listening to Klaus give happy little noises as he watched him work.

 

“Laces? Tied please?”

 

Diego smiled as he started to pull the laces up into a bow. Klaus knew how to do his own laces, if he tried  _ really _ hard, and was fully sober, and very much  _ not _ in littlespace, so, to reiterate, Klaus did not know how to do his own laces. He was very bad at it. Their father always just preferred him to go barefoot. It was easiest, he said.

 

Klaus was absolutely delighted at the nicely done laces -Diego had bought them separate from the shoes, nice and ribbon like, full of glitter and rainbow coloured, very Klaus friendly- and Diego was able to leave him fawning over them on the couch while he went to get ready to go to playgroup with him. Klaus would just pout at him if he didn’t let him go, but Diego wasn’t going into headspace himself. One of them needed to be big enough to drive and make decisions, and out of the two of them, it’s always been Diego…

 

Well, before… it used to be Five, actually. Mom said he had always had impeccable control over keeping his little side and his big side separate. Klaus tended to bleed into himself too much, never a completely solid line between little and big. Mom said if they were a more traditional family, Klaus likely wouldn’t have left home till he had a caregiver of his own.

 

Even still, he’s never managed to live on his own. Diego still can’t convince him to move into his spare room permanently. 

 

Klaus came up off the couch as soon as Diego was ready to go, looking at a spot near the door with his unfocused eyes for a moment before nodding in agreement. Sometimes Diego wondered what him and Ben talked about together. They used to think Klaus seeing Ben was just wishful thinking, grief after the loss of a sibling, but this was so much more than that. Ben told Klaus things he had no way of knowing, they’ve tested him on it, while both sober and not.

 

Their father still scowled over Klaus getting loaded, but he insisted it meant Klaus’s powers were evolving and he needed to practice them more.

 

He always insisted Klaus needed to practice more. To come home so Mom could take care of him and he would never get high or wear shoes again… Diego just wanted Klaus to move in with him where he could keep a better eye on him. It wouldn’t even be that bad, like a constant sleepover. They could get a toy chest for the living room, and a playmat like he had back in the playroom at home, and he could get those soft blocks so he wouldn’t bruise people when he inevitably threw them because he was pure chaos when he was little…

 

Those soft blocks hadn’t been his favorite, but Five was the only one of them who ever played with them with any regularity. Five always liked soft things he could squish. Thick blankets, soft pillows, his favorite teddy bear who had a freaking seat at the table during meal times because he  _ insisted _ he had feelings and didn’t want to be left out…

 

“Are we going now, Dee?”

 

Diego shook himself out of those thoughts, letting Klaus cling to his hand as he pulled him out the door. “Yeah, buba, we’re going to playgroup now.”

 

***

 

Klaus had a playgroup every Wednesday at the park. Wednesdays used to be his training days with Dad, but since Klaus has left the house, Diego was looking for something to put in its place. Diego was a middle, but even for him, there was a truth in the fact that most little spectrum people needed some sort of routine to thrive. Klaus needed at least one routine day a week to keep… sane. Well, as sane as Klaus got anyways. Not much, but enough that his little side didn’t protest all the chaos, anyways.

 

Klaus was sitting on the edge of the sandbox, a fist of grass in one hand and another full of sand. Diego looked down from his book with a raised eyebrow. “Klaus, don’t eat nature.”

 

Klaus rolled his eyes a little but put his handfuls down again, wandering off to build sandcastles with another kid while Diego went back to his book. He didn’t have much patience to read when he was in headspace himself, so it was nice to have a chance to catch up on some good books when he could. Klaus’s favorite stuffie, a pink and blue unicorn, was sitting next to him on the bench. Diego was one of the only people he trusted with his stuffie. Probably because he used to hide his pills in it when they were teenagers. Now it was just his favorite snuggle buddy.

 

Someone sat down next to him on the bench, and he was about to give them an impressive pout about it before pointedly ignoring them to read his book, before he got a good look at the woman. She seemed to be smiling at the sandbox where Klaus and another toddler were making a mess of themselves, looking a little charmed, and a little overwhelmed.

 

Admittedly, most people looked overwhelmed if they had to spend more than a half hour around Klaus, but Klaus wasn’t even doing anything  _ extra _ today, just regular little boy activities, playing in the sand, making an absolute mess, tasting nature. Normal stuff to be honest.

 

She was looking a little spooked about something to be honest, and Diego was immediately curious. He kept his head facing the book, but watched her out of the corner of his eyes, waiting for her to do… something…

 

“He’s rather… a handful, I guess. One of the other caregivers said he ate three rocks and ten cookies last week. Sort of… subdued for that type of play this time, I guess.” Her voice was quiet, almost like she was talking to herself. He could easily get away with a hum of reply instead of an actual conversation, but he was still curious.

 

Of course, last week Diego hadn’t been able to come with him, so Luther had taken him and Clair to come play. He didn’t  _ need _ someone to watch him during playgroup, but their siblings were wary about leaving him alone for too long if they knew he would be in headspace. Of course, Luther is  _ terrible _ at babysitting, and so obviously Klaus had gotten into everything he shouldn’t have. 

 

At least he wasn’t floating around like a space cadet and scaring the locals. That’s what Luther said anyways. Allison had smacked him on the arm for that, but the rest of them sort of agreed.

 

Diego shrugged, looking unconcerned. Klaus didn’t even have a stomach ache because of the cookies. Or the rocks. “He’s  _ loaded _ right now. When he gets bored of playgroup, I’m just gonna take him home for naptime. Toddlers get into things, it’s what they do.”

 

The look she gave him was  _ beyond _ horrified, wide eyes and agape for a moment. “Oh, like, pills, I guess?”

 

Diego frowned at her. She didn’t sound judgemental, just genuinely shocked. No accusing… “I don’t know, he showed up at my place already loaded. Could have been pills, could have been powder, but I doubt it was a shot. Those are usually last resort, you know?”

 

She blinked at him, once, twice, before facing the playground again, her entire world view shook up a little. “And you’re just, okay with that?”

 

Diego considered getting up and walking away. He didn’t want anyone prying into his brother’s life like that. But she wasn’t  _ judging _ , even now, she was so damn lost looking. “No? I mean, who would be? He’s an adult, he can make his own decisions for the most part. I’m just his brother, not his caregiver. If he gets a caregiver one day, I assume they’ll talk about that sort of thing. You can’t  _ force _ anyone to do anything without their consent.” Klaus asking him to help him get sober, no matter the cost? That would be consent. Dad locking Klaus in a mausoleum and refusing to let him have shoes? That’s just abuse. It doesn’t matter if it made his powers stronger, that was still abuse.

 

She stilled on the bench next to him. “You’re not his caregiver?”

 

Diego shook his head, eyebrow raised. “You think I’m a caregiver?”

 

She shrugged. “I’ve seen you with him a few times, you always seem to take care of him.”

 

Diego shook his head. “Okay, no, I’m not a caregiver. I’m his adoptive brother, and I’m a  _ middle _ , so I’m not even, you know, neutral. I’m little spectrum too. I just don’t look it because playgroups are usually for babies so I always stay big when I go with him.”

 

That seemed to make more sense to her, but she still looked entirely overwhelmed as she turned back to watching over the little ones. 

 

They sat in silence for a good half hour while the children played, her seeming to just lose herself to thought, and Diego mostly going back to his book. 

 

Diego sensed him long before Klaus actually got back to him, but still found his skinny baby brother climbing up into his lap like a monkey, making soft pleased little noises as he did. “Can I help you?”

 

Klaus held his head firmly between both hands, looking him right in the eye with surprising accuracy for a little who’s still swaying in place. “Dee, there is something that is needed to know.”

 

Diego just barely resisted the childish urge to lick his nose to make him squeak -it  _ always _ made him squeak- but only because his baby brother looked  _ so _ serious right now, and the woman on the other side of the bench was barely resisting laughing at them.

 

“What’s that, buba?”

 

“Diego, Diego, Dee, Ben says it’s time to go home right now. Also, I ate three lady bugs and some dirt.”

 

Diego kissed the tip of his nose, because he was just so damn cute he deserved it. Also, Diego really never expected him to listen when told not to taste nature. Klaus was just  _ like that _ . 

 

Klaus let out a watery little giggle, letting Diego slid him back to the ground as he got up, stretching. He was about usher them off before he looked to the side and saw that the curious woman was still sitting there, people watching.

 

“I’m Diego Hargreeves, this is Klaus.” 

 

She smiled at them, nodding. “I’m Eudora Patch.”

 

Diego smiled almost shyly, nodding back, before ushering Klaus back to the car. If Ben was telling him it was time to go, then there had to be a reason for it.

 

Klaus was a little vacant while Diego put his seatbelt on for him, handing him his stuffie before getting into the front seat of the car. 

 

It was quiet for a good five minutes on the ride back, before Klaus spoke again. “Dee, Diego, did Diego make a friend at the park?”

 

Diego thought about that. He’d actually  _ spoken _ to Eudora without getting annoyed at her being in his space. That was pretty rare for him, to be honest. He shrugged. “I don’t know yet. She was okay.”

 

Klaus nodded, reaching up to fist his big eyes for a moment. “Dee-Diego, Dee! Dee…” He trailed off, making a little hiccuping noise in his throat.

 

“What’s wrong, buba, do you want to go home to see Mommy today?” They tried to keep him away from the mansion on Wednesdays, but sometimes the need to be with Grace was fairly strong in them. They needed regular caregivers, something they’d never had other than Grace, and it was a little hard to get by without her.

 

Klaus shook his head though, looking tearful. “Dee, Ben says he’s sleepy, that he really needs a nap when we get to your place, please, snuggle and nap with us?”

 

Diego knew an exhausted little when he saw one, and Klaus was fading to the world, becoming a tearful mess right now. He nodded, making a soothing noise in the back of his throat. “Yeah, buba, we’ll cuddle and nap for as long as Ben wants.”

 

Klaus nodded, looking exceptionally sleepy for the rest of the ride back to the apartment.

 

Klaus was an absolute cuddle bug if he got half a chance, and Diego has been feeling sort of smaller since they were at the park- no. Since he talked with Eudora, he’s been feeling kind of younger. Fifteen, at most maybe. But, as always, Klaus’s clinging while they cuddled on the bed made him feel a little bit smaller, closer to twelve now, and he carefully reached over the passed out little to grab his gameboy off the bedside table, turning off the sound so he didn’t wake Klaus, and settled down to play Mario until Klaus was up again and they could make dinner.

 

It was an oddly soothing day, overall.

**Author's Note:**

> dumbassacademy.tumblr.com


End file.
